A conference on stress in the workplace will be told today that senior managers in Irish business are experiencing high levels of occupational stress.
Dr Abbie Lane, consultant psychiatrist at the Dublin County Stress Clinic, will show the findings of a recent study of those presenting to the clinic.
She will tell delegates that 80 per cent of patients had an occupational component to their stress and were unwell for more than one year before they came for treatment.
Two-thirds of clinic patients had already had a full range of hospital tests performed, searching for a physical cause for their symptoms.
This finding reflects the pattern of stress among males, who experience a high level of physical symptoms when stressed.
Those surveyed included directors, business owners and senior managers.
Both the IT sector and the healthcare industry were strongly represented in the study sample.
When those suffering from occupational stress were assessed for signs of clinical depression, 45 per cent of males and 52 per cent of females were rated as having moderate to severe depression.
Yet very few had a family history of psychiatric illness.
Dr Lane told The Irish Times that the findings have significant implications for the workplace. "It is easy to see how workplace stress can have financial implications if 80 per cent of those affected are working for a year while feeling significantly below par.
"At a personal level the individual cost is also high, with people feeling uncomfortable, unproductive, being very aware of not performing and all the other health effects which flow from being stressed," she said.
Other study findings include:
symptoms in the stress group included significantly increased rates of indecision, tiredness, sleep disturbance and concentration difficulties.
Those with stress display levels of depressive symptomatology comparable to a sample of psychiatric outpatients with depression.
All coping measures such as recreation and self care were low.
The ability of those studied to process stressful situations and to use coping and cognitive skills to appraise and deal with their situation was extremely low.
This latter finding, among a group of high achievers, probably reflects the effect of the stress hormone, cortisol, according to Dr Lane.
The constant release of cortisol is known to cause mood changes and to lead to actual physical changes such as shrinking taking place in the area of the brain related to memory.
She will tell the conference that while the majority of stress and stress related illness is preventable, generic stress reduction programmes may not represent the best use of resources.
"A focused programme tailored to the organisation and taking into account the personal issues affecting individual workers is required," Dr Lane said.
